Gallen looks crisp in first outing of season
NEW YORK — When he got the ball back with two out in the first inning on Saturday, Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen looked down and realized his hand was covered in pine tar. He quickly motioned to the second-base umpire.
“I’m like, ‘Yeah, I didn’t wait 11 days (to make his season debut) to get thrown out in the first inning for some pine tar that’s not mine,’” Gallen said.
Gallen’s first start hardly could have gone much better. Working on a limited pitch count after a shortened spring training, he turned in four scoreless innings on 66 pitches, putting himself in position to potentially be built up to a normal starter’s workload by the time the club returns home next weekend.
Gallen figured the pine tar came from the bat of the Mets’ Francisco Lindor, who just got jammed on a pop out to third. Gallen said it’s not unusual for a baseball to have a little pine tar on it.
“I’ve never seen that much pine tar, though,” Gallen said. “He must have just applied it. It was still pretty wet. The ball was covered in it. I was kind of shocked.”
Manager Torey Lovullo and a member of the training staff went to the mound to give Gallen a towel to wipe off his hand. The umpire then checked his hand before play resumed.
Gallen mostly breezed through his four innings. He gave up two hits and a walk and did not allow a Mets baserunner to advance into scoring position. He said the small cut on his thumb, which forced his first start to get pushed back four days, was essentially a nonfactor.
And Lovullo said Gallen should be able to add another 15 or 20 pitches to his workload when he takes the ball next on Thursday in Washington, meaning he should be ready to turn in a normal start during the upcoming homestand.
“I was happy to be able to get through four at least,” Gallen said. “I’m looking forward to building on that.”
Gallen was behind schedule during the abbreviated spring training because he experienced shoulder discomfort in the offseason.
Just in case
The Diamondbacks had two new faces in the clubhouse on Saturday morning in right-hander Matt Peacock and infielder Cam Duzenack, both of whom were brought to New York as members of the taxi squad.
Lovullo said the additions to the club’s traveling party were made as a sort of reaction to the New York Mets having two players test positive for COVID-19 on Friday.
“We know that it’s got the potential to travel,” Lovullo said. “We just wanted to make sure that we have enough coverage in case it migrated over to our clubhouse.
“We don’t have anybody in that bucket. We’ve been very mindful of it. We’ve been doing our job and staying safe.”
Lovullo said that with their Triple-A Reno affiliate on the other side of the country it would be better to have the reinforcements in place just in case.
Peacock has made three appearances with Reno, giving up four runs in four innings, though he tossed two scoreless innings in his most recent appearance.
Duzenack, 27, is off to a hot start in Reno, is hitting .407/.429/.815 with three homers in 28 plate appearances. Duzenack has steadily progressed through the organization since the club took him in the ninth round in 2017 out of Dallas Baptist.
Short hop
Lovullo said the club liked right-hander Humberto Castellanos for the start on Sunday in part because of his ability to locate his pitches and pitch to a game plan. “When you’re throwing the ball where you want it, the predictability is a little bit better for the defense,” Lovullo said. “We feel like he’ll give us the ability to place guys behind him because he’s going to land pitches where he’s supposed to.”